Process and device for the automatic tying of parcels



March 12, 1963 E. FREUDLING ET AL 3,080,811

' PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING OF'PARCELS Filgd Oct. 12, 1959 I 16 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVNTOR$ March 1963 y E. 'FREUDLING ETA]. 37,080,811

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING OF PARCELS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 16 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS EM 4 M"M. Wk MW M i' h 12, 1963 E. FREUDLING ETAI. 3,080,811

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PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING 0F" PARCELS Filed. Oct. 12, 1959 16 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 9

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PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING OF PA'RCELS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 March 12, 1963 March 12, 1963 I E. FREUDLING ET Al. 3,080,811

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING OF PARCELS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 I 16 Sheets-Sheet 9 F lg. 17

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PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING 0F PARCELS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 16 Sheets-Sheet 1O Ev-Ni INVENTOR.

March 12, 1963 E/FREUDLING ETAL 3,080,811

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC mug 0F- PARCELS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 16 Sheets-Sheet 11 Fig. 13

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PROCESS DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC- TYING OF PARCELS Filed Oct. 12, 1959 1e Sheets-Sheet 1:

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77: (sec) BY W8 k 3,080,811 PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC TYING F PARBELS Erwin Freudling, Augsburg, Hans Eisinger, Haunstetten, Paul Griinert, Friedberg, and Wilhelm Ranch, Augsburg, Germany, assignors to Knotex Maschinenbau G.rn.b.H., Augsburg, Germany, a company of Germany Filed Get. 12, 1959, Scr. No. 845,859 Claims priority, application Germany Oct. 11, 1958 Claims. (Cl. l002) The invention is concerned with a process for the automatic, tying of parcels and small packages etc., especially with such a process for forming a cross-over tie with knotting, preferably in such a manner which will permit parcels of diflerent sizes to be dealt with; non-metallic materials such aspolished twine, string, cord and such like are chiefly considered as means for tying. The invention is furthermore concerned with devices which are essential for the carrying out of the process, are useful or can be used successfully in addition.

The invention contains several groups of main characteristics, in the first instance the following:

' To start with it should be noted that the now following considerations assume the shape of the parcels to be that of a cube; but as a rule a shape of parcel which has also got rectangular sections will occur in practice. This does not preclude the consideration of other shapes of parcels, to which the invention should be adapted analogously.

Among the problems on which the invention is based are the following:

It is attempted to achieve an as far as possible automatized tying.

It is attempted to shape the tying-up process in sucha way that in the course of its duration or in between its various phases there is no need to re-position the parcels" or parcel respectively.

It is" attempted tov keep the total time required for onetying of one parcel as short as possible.

It is attempted to shapethe tying in such a way that it cannot be undone. In this special care should be taken that some of the tying-zones are not able to be'displaced by any considerablev amount with respect to the other tying-zones.

It is attempted to carry out and shape the knotting of the tie in such a manner that the tied string is pulled tight to a strong degree, this being done also by meansof the knotting operation if possible.

It is attempted to make possible the tyingof parcels-of most": varying sizes without having; to employ protracted additional means.

' It. is attempted. to have single or multiple transverse tying, in other words to be able to tie up short or long parcels reliably;

It is attempted to keep the time required for changing ltisattempted tocrea-te-adevice whichnot onlyautbm tent h: atize's a tying-up process in a far-reaching manner, but also saves material, requires only a minimum of operational work and is not of too complicated a design, in order to be always in working order under what are, after all, rough working conditions.

Up to now so-c alled tying automats have become known which are not at all equipped to achieve a truly automatic tying. On'e well-known device works in such a way that the parcel, which has been deposited on a table with perhaps crosswise slots in it is furnished with longitudinal ties, after which process the means are created by hand, either on a fixed table or by turning a table which can rotateon a vertical axis, to also form the transverse ties. This however does not result in good and complete tying of the parcel, because the longitudinal ties and the transverse ties remain movable within a wide margin with respectto each other, since they do not support each other; a genuine tying-point between the longitudinal thread and the transverse thread is missing.

The first basic idea of the invention is a process working in such a 'way, that the loop which is to form the transverse tie of the parcel is produced in a suitable manner to be the same size of the parcel section or a slightly larger size respectively, after which the parcel is pushed into this loop and subsequently the longitudinal tie is produced which may have been partly pro-formed and is now fully tied round the parcel, after which the total tie-up is completed by knottin-g the thread-ends of the longitudinal loop.

A further step within the context of this first idea of the invention is the provision of several loops (transverse loops) placed at intervals and adapted to the size of the section of the parcel, either in such a manner that all such loops are being pre-formed to the size of the section of the parcel or, respectively, slightly larger, or other- Wise in such a manner that these loops are being pulled apart one after the other to their final size according to the pushing in progress of the parcel, whereupon, after the parcel has been fully pushed into the loops and preferably whilst it is not moving, the longitudinal tie is being formed or completed and the knotting takes place.

Within the context of this first idea of the invention it is furthermore of importance that a genuine cross-over thread-tie results between the longitudinal part of the tying andthe transverse part of the tying, preferably below the parcel or respectively, below the space taken up by the inserted parcel, which will prevent a displacement of' the longitudinal tying and the transverse tying or loop (transverse loop) with respect to each other, either completely or to a very great extent.

In this connection it is also advantageous to'make pro vision for an organ which will pull the thread-range of the longitudinal tying far enough in the direction of the incoming. and outgoing parcel to allow the parcel to be pushed in sufficiently far, and that after the parcel has been completely pushed in not only'the transverse tie or ties, respectively, or loops, respectively, have been ba'sically'pre-formed but also a great deal of the longi: tudinal tie.

The invention also includes the characteristic feature" that the longitudinal tie'is'also basically pie-formed, how ever, it-' being open in-the direction'from which the parcel is to be pushed in, and that the organ which forms and/or pulls this longitudinal tie releases the longitudinal tie shortly beforethe tying-up process" is completed or be-j fore knot-ting commences, respectively, Whilst the ends of the-thread which are being cut oil at this point, or later, come under the influence ofthe knotting organ (knotter'), so thatthe longitudinal tie canbe closed and the whole tying-up process be' completed.

In one z'on'e -of.- the parcel, eI-gi'onits underside, areto be: found one or several genuine thread cross=over ties, as has been mentioned already, but these are not to be found in other parcel zones, eg on the top side of the parcel; in this way it is therefore possible to achieve a sufficiently substantial shortening of the longitudinal tie during the knotting process, which will result in a corresponding tightening of the Whole tie-up making the latter tight-fitting, taut and firmly closing.

The second main idea of the invention concerns the device proper. It includes the organs for producing one or several loops forming the transverse tyings, the organs being preferably in the shape of hooks, the movement of which is controlled and which grip the corners of the loops from inside.

According to the invention these loop-hooks may be movable for instance in the plane of the parcel section, or in a plane which is parallel to the latter, that is, they may be moved in a controlled fashion, for instance taking the example of the rectangular loop (transverse loop), the two lower hooks may perhaps only be movable horizontally sideways away from each other (and together again), whilst the two upper hooks are movable sideways as well as up (and down), the movement being a combined one if necessary.

The third essential idea of the invention concerns again the device proper. According to this idea the means employed for forming the loops, for instance the hooks mentioned before, are being controlled in congruity or geometrical similarity or dependence, respectively, with the section of the (incoming) parcel in such a way, that one such loop forming the transverse tie or several of them respectively, are being formed simultaneously or together, these loops being of a size which will allow the parcel to be pushed into them, the pushing occurring at right angles to their plane; the means to achieve this are being stated in the invention to include feeler devices acting directly or indirectly by mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electronic or optical means, respectively.

In the case of the feeler devices having been conceived as a mechanical design they might take the shape of simple rotatable feeler arms, in which case one or several of these feeler organs, respectively, whatever their shape may he, would guide into their final position the loop-forming elements or respectively the elements controlling the forming of the (transverse) loops, such as the above-mentioned hooks, either by direct or indirect means. The feelers maybe special preliminary feelers and/or may be interchangeable in different sizes or shapes; if, for example only a few parcel sizes, for instance three are intended, the feelers may be omitted and a corresponding number of loop sizes, for instance three, may be produced by exchanging or switching over certain organs.

Additional means could be provided and steps taken here to ensure that once a loop has been formed it will be maintained in its finally controlled shape, respectively the loop-forming organs (hooks) be fixed in their set end position even if the action of the feeler devices has been superseded or, respectively, has collapsed. Prnicipally, the loop is maintained until the parcel has been pushed into it and, if necessary has come to a standstill, and then of course the loop-forming organs (hooks) are being removed from the precincts of the loop, since the latter is now resting on the parcel and does not require the loopforming organs any longer.

The fourth group of characteristics concerns the formation of the loops proper and therefore contains organs which produce the loop or loops which are to form the transverse tie and which in addition prepare the longitudinal tie or, respectively, get hold of the length of thread provided for the longitudinal tie and pull it open, or respectively, apart by a certain amount in the direction of the parcel exit. These organs may for instance be dependent in their operational timing on the knotting organ for the knot and on the thread running off the feed bobbin, and which latter may for instance be cut off after having been gripped and subsequently in connection with other parts of the knotting organ may form the knot itself together with the other end of the thread and complete the tying whilst considerably shortening the total length of tying; it is of no importance here whether the cutting takes place before or after the knotting has been completed, both ways are possible.

The fifth group of characteristics finally concerns the knotting device itself, in other words the organ used for knotting.

The sixth group of characteristics concerns a special design of the feed-bobbin carrier as well as a special feedbobbin.

Further details may now be gathered from the subsequent detailed description, which should be read in conjunction with the drawings. In these drawings the figures represent the following.

FIG. 1, a perspective view of a simple tying of a parcel,

FIG. 2, a schematic perspective view of a double tying of a parcel,

FIG. 3,. a perspective view of the commencement of the tying process, the parcel itself having been omitted for clarity,

FIG. 4, the start of the formation of a multiple tying,

FIG. 5, the multiple tying with completely pre-formed transverse ties,

FIG. 6, an enlarged view of a thread cross-over point according to VI in FIG. 5,

FIG. 7, a mechanical feeler device,

FIG. 8, the mechanical feeler device including views showing the control mechanism for the loop forming organs,

FIG. 8a is a detail of FIG. 8,

FIG. 9, a view similar to FIG. 8 but showing the completely formed loop,

FIG. 10, successive illustrations a to showing the process of pushing in and tying up a parcel with simple tying in both side elevation and end view,

FIG. 11, successive illustrations a to g showing the process analogously to FIG. 10 but with double transverse tying of the parcel, both in side elevation and end view,

FIG. 12, illustrations a to d showing the loop forming element,

FIG. 13, the mechanism for moving the loop forming element,

FIG. 13b, a partial section of item XIIIb in FIG. 13, igen approximately in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

FIGS. 14 and 15, a side-elevation and plan view of a feeler control mechanism,

FIG. 16, a section XVIXVI in FIG. 15,

FIG. 17, a slightly enlarged and partly sectioned perspective view of region XVII in FIG. 15,

FIGS. 18 to 24, various illustrations mainly in side elevation with plan view below, of the region of the knotting mechanism, FIG. 24 representing an enlarged view of the actual knotter,

FIGS. 25 and 26, possible shapes of knots,

FIG. 27, the feed-bobbin carrier showing the feedbobbin in position,

FIG. 28, the feed-bobbin (without thread) in reduced size,

FIG. 29, a chart showing a timing diagram of the working phases.

FIG. 1 shows the parcel 1 with the tying up regions completed. The course of tying up takes in successively the thread regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and the knot 12 joins the correspondingly cut-off thread regions 2 and 11. The transverse tying, usually called loop in the following paragraphs, is thus formed from the regions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, whilst the longitudinal tie is formed from the regions 2, 8, 9, 10, 11. It is important that region.

.13, as. shown (in a slightly difierent way) in.,FIG. 6,;is .a genuinethread cross-over tie, for instance in such a manner thatregion '2 is connected to region .3 or region 7, whilst region 8 is connected either to region 7 or region 3.

."FIG. 2 showing the possibility of a multiple tying, shows therefore theloops '5' and 5" placed parallel at somedistance from each other, and thus corresponding cross-over tie points 13' and 13 are formed.

According to P16. 2 the thread 2 runs up to point'13 then runs. round the parcel 1 in the form of transverse loop .5 then runs on as region 8 from point 13' from there onwards in the shape of the transverse second loop 5", then again further on from point 13 as region 8", then 9 and-1d as well as 11'. Knot 12 joinshere the thread regions 2' and 11'.

FIG. 3 shows what the start of the complete process looks like.

On the basis of a tie up according to FIG. '3 the. loop to be formed is produced as follows. The hooksiti, 15, 16, 17 seize in a manner to be described'later, a loop which at that stage is still very small and which is formed by the incoming thread 2 and the regions 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, a further region 8 going oif backwards in the direction of thread 2, this being controlled and pulled backwards by some pulling organ 18. The thread 8, coming from above, or respectively going in that direction towards region 1?, comes from or, respectively, leads tothe feedbobbin 26. It is important that the thread '19 enters the inside of loop 3,4, 5, 6.

The parcel now arrives in the direction of 21, for in stance on a table above the hooks 14, before the par cel has reached the loop 3, i, 5, 6, hooks 14, 15 are pulled apart in the direction of arrows 22, 23 horizontally and hooks 16, 17 are pulled in the directions of arrows 2d,

25 and 26, 27 sideways and upwards far enough to make the internal section of the loop 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 slightly larger than the external sectional profile of the parcel.

if one and the same size of parcel is always involved, the movement of hooks 14-, 16, 16, 1'7 can take place according to a fixed (or if required, variable) programme, for instance by controlling them with cams or in a similar manner (it is possible to have interchangeable cams).

if on the other hand different shapes of parcels are to be dealt with, then the movement of the said hooks 14, v4

15, 15, 17 will be governed by the size of parcel itself or, respectively, by the size (height and width) of the parcel section, or, respectively, directly or indirectly controlled by it, for instance by feeler organs monitoring the said parcel section'on the outside.

The parcel is now being pushed into the device in the 1 direction of arrow 21 until it reaches, with respect to loop 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, the (pushed in) relative position towards this loop as shown in PEG. 1; subsequently the pulling organ 1% is being disconnected from the thread '8, 19 (longitudinal tie), the thread 19 is being seized at a suitable point and knotted together with the thread 2; thus the thread region 19 in KG. 3 corresponds to the thread regions 10 and 11 in PKG. l. The knotting operation causes a tightening of the threads constituting the complete parcel tie-up by pulling together the knot, also causing a corresponding pulling together of the loop' 3,

2-, 5, 6, via cross-over tying .point 13, resulting in a propother. Thus the region 19 (corresponding to 10 in FIG.

2) is being pulled through the interior of the two loops "5".and 5 by the pulling organ. For this process the,

5 FIG. 1.

5 fashion; the enlargingof'this'loop 5" to its fullsize 5;:

takes placeduring the pushing in of the parcel-inthe direction of '21, ifnecessary'through monitoring of the parcel, and in consequence of this-monitoring the formation of loop5' will be controlled'tooby-the monitoring of 10 the. parcel.

Analogouslya "third loop 5b, shown in its fullsizein FIG. 5, can beproduced, which again may be laggingin its timing behindthe formation of -the*loop'5" or 5:1, "respectively. This may then resulteitherduringthe'push- 15 iing'in of the parcel or "even before *it is pushed in in the preformed and partly finished tying shown *in FIG. IS.

The crossing pointslVI in- FIG. 1 5 are shown enlarged fin FIG. '6; they correspond exactly or analogously-to points 13 or 13', respectively,-in- FIGS. -1'or 2, respecgotively. Again, the --total process :is-completed here by joining thread ends 2 and 11- into a knot.

FIG. 7 shows how the hooksfor forming-"the loops can be controlled directly by a mechanical feeler device, *this being done in such a-waythat the hooks are carried 2 I on the feeler device itself.

The table 28 has mounted on ittwolateral'feeler arms 29, 30, which can be suitably rotated and if necessary adjusted; the tableZS also carries a shaft'31, the bearings for which have been omitted, the shaft bcingpossibly ad- 3 justable in height in order tocaterlfor-extremevariations in the height dimensions of different parcels; gen erally the shaft 31 will be mounted in-a fixed position with respect to table 2.8 however, and at a suitable height :from it.

This shaft 31 carries feeler arms 32, 33 which are rn'ovable axially but can be rotated round. shaft 31.

Their function is now as follows:' Each'feelenarm 2'9, 30, carries a hook 14, 15, each feeler arm 32, 33 carries -.a hook 16,17. "The feeler arms .29, 3t? have only one degree of freedom of movement, i.e. sideways movement according to. arrows 34, 35 or536, 37 respectively. The rotatable arms 32, 33 have'twodegrees of freedom of movernent,being capable of pivotal motion about the shaft and also capable of bodily movementaxially of the 5 shaft, thus the hooks 16, 17 too, have two degrees of freedom of movement (up and down-and sideways). .The

transverse groove in the table affords room to thehooks 14, 15 etc. The cut-out 4ftafiords'room to the pulling organ 18 which initially is partly submerged in it.

Below the table is fixedathread-Clamp 41 which at the same time will be designed to'form part of the knotter. The parcel 1 is shown here in its nearly pushed in position shortly before it enters the loop 3, 4, 5, 6,7. The fee1erarms29, 30, '32, 33 are now monitoring the outside of the parcel section and thus via the hooks 14,15,

16, 17 which seize the loop, from inside, form the said loop'3, 4, 5, 6, 7 during .which operation the region z of the thread remains beingwheidfast at'fl. The region 8 is being pulled out by the; pulling organ, 18 and then 0 changes below thread region '5 intoregion19 (this being shown purposely in the 'liftedoff position),- whilst of course a corresponding change of directi n takes place at 18. The parcelis nowbeing pushed further into the device until it has about: reached .jthe: position. shown in At this moment the hooks 14, 15,116f17idl5- connect themselves from the loop 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 which.operation may be carried out by the most varied of means, for instance the said books, 15, 16,. 17 :mightbe attached toltheir corresponding feeler-arms 29, 30,32,3-3 by. means of links, their movement may also be controlled; finally they canzalso be shaped in such away that. in consequence of suchshape theywill allow .the loops to he slipped off. Subsequently the pulling organ 18 will release the threads 8, -19, for instance by turning its-grip- 7 hook or by extending alinlehookor inzsomesirnilar man- 7 ner, so that subsequently the knotting process can take place between the regions 2, 19 (equal to the regions 10, 11 in FIG. 1).

FIG. 8 shows an indirect control mechanism for the loop-forming organs depending in some way or another on the momentary position of the feeler organs.

Referring to FIG. 8 a set of feeler organs is provided, fitted to the table which has been omitted from the drawing, this set need here only to consist of three arms, these being the feeler arms 42, 43 for lateral monitoring and the feeler arm 44 for monitoring the height of the parcel 1. It is appropriate here to combine the books 14, 15, 16, 17 usually in pairs, each of which is attached to a sliding block 45, 46 movable laterally. The combination is carried out in such a way, that one sliding block 45 has firmly fixed to it the hook 15, and perhaps carries the hook 16 via a guided rod 47, which is adjustable in height; correspondingly, the other sliding block 46 has firmly fixed to it the hook 14, and, via the guided rod 48 the hook 17.

The operation takes place in such a way that the feeler arm 42 controls a lateral movement of the sliding biock 46 via a mechanical, or pneumatic, electrical or similar transmission 49 according to the monitoring, whereby the monitoring takes place along a longitudinal side of the parcel 1 (on the left hand side of the illustration). The sliding block 45 is being moved laterally by its corresponding feeler arm monitoring the right hand side of the parcel and operating via a transmission 50 which is analogous or similar in design to 49. The feeler arm monitoring the height of the parcel induces a corresponding upward movement of the two rods 47, 48 via the transmission 51. All in all the forming of the loop is achieved in such a manner, that the hooks 14, are only moved sideways, while the hooks 16, 17 are moved sideways as well as upwards. The total end result is again a loop formed according to FIG. 3, i.e. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 into which the parcel 1 is subsequently pushed.

FIG. 8 shows the loops being formed, where the loop is therefore still very small but is already being seized by the hooks 14, 15, 16, 17 after having just been produced. The formation of the loop is by virtue of a special loop former, see FIG. 8a. At this state of the loop the pulling organ has already come into action and thus seized thread region 2.

FIG. 8a shows a necessary or at least advantageous component which has a share in the formation of the small loop. The component in question consists of a block 53 on which are mounted movable or respectively controlled movable auxiliary hooks 54, 55, which can be moved up and down say via the guided rod 56 in block 53, this red 56 carrying a bearing bracket 57 with a shaft 58 allowing the two auxiliary hooks 54, 55 to rotate so that via the rack 59 which can move in and out of block 53 and the pinion 60 on shaft 58 and the two books 54, 55 may be made to disengage from the loop which has been given the index 5a here, after this said loop 5a has been seized by all its hooks 14, 15, 16, 17. In this case the organ chiefly engaged in the formation of the loop the pulling organ 18, the function of which will be described later. However, it might be mentioned at this stage that this pulling organ possesses several hooks, say three, of which at least one may be movable in a certain manner or respectively, may be rotatable or, respectively, movable axially.

The pulling organ 18 is movable via a still to be described control and moving device 61, this movement taking place according to FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows 62, and then sideways removed according to arrow 63; to start with the pulling organ therefore, will pull out the thread region 8, 19 and subsequently after disengagement, remove itself from the region of the parcel exit.

FIG. 9 shows the deviceaccording to FIG. 8, but with a partlyor completely opened up loop. I

It may also be mentioned that for instance a swinging flap 64 which falls away from the parcel during its feed may, via the transmission 65, trigger off or effect some motion or control to operate on the table 28. For instance, the falling down of flap 64 might cause the subsequent pushing in operation to run its course automatically and might also control one or several of the operations connected with this.

FIG. l0 shows in illustration (a) a parcel 1 in its final position and a further parcel 1 which is just coming in and is still in its monitoring position. A

The loops for the parcel 1 are already existing in their entirety, the tying up process is being continued according to illustration (b) and according to illustration (0) the knotting is being completed, in which the thread end 1% is being gripped by the clamping organ 41 after having been released by being cut off. Now, according to illustrations (0) and (d), the loop forming ing organ 18, which is also the pulling organ comes into action and forms a small ioop 5c (somewhat similar to the process in FIG. 8). This loop opens out accord ing to illustration (d) into the loop 5d then further according to illustration (e) into a square loop So then, after having been passed over to the hooks 14, 15, 16, 17 finally into loop 5 (or 5a, 5b, too), so that the parcel can be pushed into the loop and the whole process is repeated according to illustration (a).

It should be mentioned here that the forming of the loop can be brought about by a corresponding turning movement of 18, such as is described later on according to FIG. 12.

Of course after the process has been completed, or, respectively, whilst the process is being completed the hooks 14, 15, 16, 17 together with the elements carrying them (for instance 45, 46, 47, 48) must move towards each other again into the smallest space, so that the new small loop 5d can be seized from the inside.

FIG. 11 shows basically the same thing, the only difference being the multiple tying of the parcel, two or more loops 5a, 5b having been formed here at spaced intervals from each other. The sliding blocks 45, 46 and the guided rods 47, 48, in other words the hookcarrying organs can be seen in the illustration (a) to (g) of FIG. 11. These organs are thus provided in duplicate, each lot being perhaps carried by a column 66, 67. The interval between the columns 66, 67 may also be made controllable or, respectively, automatically controllable, for instance with dependence on the length of the parcel 1.

FIG. 12 now shows the primary loop forming organ 18 proper in its four different phases of movement (a), 0

This organ consists to start with basically of a head plate 68; on this head plate are mounted three fingershaped hooks 69, 70, 71 which protrude in the direction towards the loop and which should preferably lie in a straight line with each other or in one plane. It should be remarked that the finger shaped hooks 69, 70 are movable with respect to the head plate for instance rotatable, or they may also be fixed with respect to this head plate 68, whilst the middle finger-shaped hook 71 will in general be movable and especially rotatable and/or axially movable with respect to the head plate 68, if necessary it might even be made to swing out from the head-plate. All this depends on the manner in which the head plate is being made to move. If a rocking motion is provided for the head plate the special movability of the finger-shaped hook 71 may in certain circumstances be dispensed with, but in all such cases special care should be taken with the design of the points and curves of the book, which can however be found easily by experiment.

The procedure is now to get the head plate 68 in the first instance into the position shown in illustration (a) of FIG. 12 by means of the operating mechanism 61 to which the head plate 68 is fixed or, respectively, 

1. THE METHOD OF TYING AN OBJECT, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF FORMING A FLEXIBLE CORD INTO A CLOSED TRANSVERSE LOOP LOCATED IN A TRANSVERSE PLANE AND INTO AN OPEN LONGITUDINAL LOOP; MOVING THE OBJECT AND SAID LOOPS RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER IN A LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO SAID TRANSVERSE PLANE FROM A POSITION IN WHICH THE OBJECT IS LOCATED OUTSIDE OF SAID CLOSED LOOP INTO A POSITION IN WHICH SAID CLOSED LOOP SURROUNDS SAID OBJECT AND SAID 